History Main / MostWritersAreWriters

* In the Franchise/{{Superman}} mythos, Clark Kent, ComicBook/LoisLane, ComicBook/JimmyOlsen -- and in some continuities [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Kara Danvers]] -- are reporters.

* Steve Rogers (aka ComicBook/CaptainAmerica) has worked as a comic book artist -- even illustrating a ''Captain America'' comic!

* In ''Dream Country'', the third book of ''ComicBook/TheSandman,'' a struggling writer gets famous thanks to his imprisonment and rape of Calliope, the Greek muse. He buys her from another writer, whom it is implied became famous through the same means. Unsurprisingly, Calliope is not thrilled about this arrangement; neither is the title character, with whom Calliope once had a child and who delivers some karmic justice to her captor.

* The character ''VideoGame/{{Omori}}'' from the video game title of the same name is a teenager with a penchant for writing and doodling. He literally has a book where he jots down his observations of his foes in a rather creative, yet dark way. He even has a skill where he can make an enemy sad with the use of a sad poem.
** The old version of the character is called "Omoriboy" who owns and writes a blog.

* ''Literature/DeGriezelbus'': The BigBad Paul Onnoval is a horror author and something of ADarkerMe of Paul van Loon himself, and several of Onnoval's stories feature similar authors. One story goes for a bit of SelfDeprecation with an author who hires a secretary to handle all his fan mail, who turns out to be a demon that gives his fans a spell that turns them into monsters. In another one, a sinister author invites one of his fans to a fictional town where the creatures in his stories are allowed to live but cannot leave, before revealing that the fan is [[NoticingTheFourthWall also fictional]].

* ''Literature/DeGriezelbus'': The BigBad Paul Onnoval is a horror author and something of ADarkerMe of Paul van Loon himself, and several of Onnoval's stories feature similar authors. One story goes for a bit of SelfDeprecation with an author who hires a secretary to handle all his fan mail, who turns out to be a demon that gives his fans a spell that turns them into monsters. In another one, a sinister author invites one of his fans to a fictional town where the creatures in his stories are allowed to live but cannot leave, before revealing that the fan is also fictional.

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'' introduces the famed mangaka Rohan Kishibi, whose own Stand lets him write people like they are books and [[AuthorAvatar shares many of Araki Hirohiko]], such as needing to experience the subjects they are writing. Rohan would later become the protagonist of his own spin-off, ''Manga/ThusSpokeKishibeRohan''.

* Journalists and other kinds of nonfiction writers generally are expected to have investigative skills and an attention to detail that are [[ChekhovsSkill useful to many kinds of plots]], such as TheyFightCrime.

* An example with a dark twist: Winston Smith, the unassuming protagonist of ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'', works as a writer for the Ministry of Truth, his specific job being to [[OrwellianRetcon redact inconvenient news stories or incorrect predictions made by the ruling Party]], and [[PropagandaMachine replace it with propaganda he is told to make up from whole cloth]]. He says that his writing is the high point of his life. His love interest, Julia, is also a writer, albeit of [[IKEAErotica amateur pornographic novels]] and [[BreadAndCircuses other tripe meant to keep the populace distracted and happy]]. Author Creator/GeorgeOrwell was a highly experienced writer, and was wearily self-aware about the nature of the literary world, and it shows best here.

* On a more meta level: it has been pointed out that most depictions of office work in film center on getting ready for some "big presentation." Office work doesn't rely much on presentations, really -- but film writers live or die by how well they present their story ideas.

* Episode 10 of ''Anime/ParanoiaAgent'' shows an anime studio struggling to put a {{pilot}} together. The creators are [[CreatorCareerSelfDeprecation overworked]], irresponsible, and [[WritersSuck hostile towards each other]]; and the episode plays out like [[spoiler:Creator/SatoshiKon and Creator/{{Madhouse}}'s twisted [[KillEmAll sado]][[DrivenToSuicide masochistic]] fantasy of [[PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery ending it all]].]]

Seriously, though. In fiction, it is relatively common for the main character to be a writer or a reporter. This is in large part because many narrative works of art are initially driven by writers themselves (novelists, playwright, screenwriters, etc.)

Interestingly, such characters are only occasionally {{Author Avatar}}s. As the page quote indicates, one of the main pieces of advice writers hear is "WriteWhatYouKnow", and since, as writers, they know writing, they have some idea how a writer would react in a given situation. This trope is almost unavoidable when the setting revolves around a ShowWithinAShow, and may lead to a WritersBlockMontage. Making characters who are writers by trade [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools has a number of advantages for a narrative]]:

* ''Manga/GalaxyExpress999'' does this several times. At one point, a poor person Tetsuro meets is a would-be anime creator (who we are told, did manage to get her anime created), and episode 58 features a ghost who was a would-be manga writer in life. Episodes 60-61 have another would be manga artist, and another one shows up in episode 101. And 111 too.

* ''Manga/FairyTail'' has SupportingProtagonist Lucy who has spent much of the series on writing a book. The trope is even played with when she tries to trick a villain by saying she needs to go the bathroom. The villain has prepared for such a cheap trick and shows Lucy a bucket that she may use instead of a toilet. Lucy pretends that she is actually going to use the bucket. The villain is embarrassed and looks the other way, and Lucy uses the opportunity to [[GroinAttack kick him in the crotch]]. She then notes that despite the bathroom trick being [[TheOldestTricksInTheBook one of the oldest ones in the book]], it actually worked, and that she might use it in her own novel.

* Yuuki Rito's father in ''Manga/ToLoveRu'' is a manga artist who rarely sees his children because he's constantly on deadline. The bodyguard/chief enforcer of an intergalatic warlord becomes Mr Yuuki's assistant. Somehow.
* Nitori from ''Manga/WanderingSon'' shows a knack for writing throughout the series, typically being the one to write scripts for the {{school play}}s and often being shown writing. In high school she even begins writing a book that can best be described as an in-universe version of the manga. When she goes to college at the end of the manga she says she wants to get into a writing-related career.
* Nozaki of ''Manga/MonthlyGirlsNozakiKun'' is mainly a SequentialArtist, but he sometimes writes plays for Hori of the school drama club in exchange of Hori drawing backgrounds for him.

* [[DownplayedTrope While she doesn't have anything published]], Ayano in ''Manga/AsteroidInLove'' is actually a budding fantasy novelist. She left the Literature Club for the [[SchoolNewspaperNewsHound Newspaper Club]] mainly because the former seems to be more interested in literary criticism than creative writing, while the Newspaper Club's president is willing to provide feedback to her writings. Her [[ADayInTheLimelight limelight chapter]] shows she take so much time writing that her classmate notices she keeps AsleepInClass.

* In ''Dream Country'', the third book of of ''ComicBook/TheSandman,'' a struggling writer gets famous thanks to his imprisonment and rape of Calliope, the Greek muse. He buys her from another writer, whom it is implied became famous through the same means. Unsurprisingly, Calliope is not thrilled about this arrangement; neither is the title character, with whom Calliope once had a child and who delivers some karmic justice to her captor.

* Jon Arbuckle of ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' was specifically identified as a cartoonist in early strips, at least before he essentially became a full time {{Cloudcuckoolander}} loser guy. In the [[WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends cartoon]], however, his profession regularly drives the conflict in the plot.

* The Jet Li movie, ''Film/DrWaiInTheScriptureWithNoWords'', in which Li plays a NonActionGuy for once, a writer picturing himself as a badass adventurer he created on paper. All the action scenes in the movie are ImagineSpot that Li puts himself in while thinking how to progress with his latest story.
* ''Film/StrangerThanFiction'' also uses the device in an eerie, roundabout and darkly humorous manner.

* In ''Film/HowToLoseFriendsAndAlienatePeople'', which based on a memoir by a British journalist, most of the characters are journalists (and a lot of them have hobbies such as writing poetry or novels).

* ''Film/{{Following}}'': Protagonist is a struggling, unemployed young writer.

* ''Film/BasicInstinct'': Catherine Tramell, the female lead, is a crime novelist. [[spoiler:And a particularly manipulative and genre savvy one at that; by the end of the film it's revealed that she set up almost every event to emulate her own book.]]

* ''Film/InTheMouthOfMadness'': Sutter Cane is the most popular (horror) writer who ever lived and he's ''the villain'' no less. At its core the film looks at what the awesome power of writing [[RewritingReality means to the characters who occupy the novels themselves]].

* ''Film/LoveHard'': Natalie is a columnist for a ShallowNewsSiteSatire, a job that gives her leeway to fly across the country for an online crush, because she can write about it.

** Allen Carpentier, the protagonist of ''Literature/InfernoLarryNivenAndJerryPournelle'', is a Speculative Fiction writer, just like Niven and Pournelle. In some ways Carpentier seems to represent Niven (more so than Pournelle), and [[{{Expy}} expies]] of many other SF authors and other then famous personages appear in the story, but at the same time Carpentier's depiction is used to savage personal shortcomings that Niven himself might reasonably have.

*** "Word Processor of the Gods" a short story in the collection ''Literature/SkeletonCrew''.

*** "Literature/FourteenOhEight", short story in ''Everything's Eventual'': Mike Enslin writes non-fiction books about haunted places.

** ''Literature/FearOfFlying'' and its sequels, ''How to Save Your Own Life'' and ''Parachutes and Kisses'': Isadora Wing is loosely based on Jong, and the stories on her personal life.

* In Creator/GregBear's science fiction novel ''Queen of Angels,'' the story revolves around a novelist, playwright and poet, who has just killed eight people. Another main character is also a writer.

** ''Literature/ATangledWeb1931'' there is an unseen book writing lady that is mentioned. Some characters live in the hope that she will "write them into a story". Others live in terror of her doing exactly the same thing.
** Emily, of the ''Literature/EmilyOfNewMoon'' books, knows she not only wants to be a writer, she ''is'' a writer with all of her self. The people around her can use this need to manipulate her if they want -- promising her that she can go to college, no strings attached, but only ''if'' she gives up writing fiction for the entire time. And in the third book, [[spoiler:Dean Priest tells her that ''A Seller of Dreams'' is, basically, "cute," because he's jealous of her writing and wants her to give it up, even though he realizes it is an unfinished masterpiece.]]

* Judy Abbott, the heroine of ''Literature/DaddyLongLegs'', goes to college specifically because of her writing. Her anonymous benefactor likes a funny essay she wrote about the orphanage where she grew up, and agrees to sponsor her education so she can become a writer. Over the course of the story she becomes a published author of short stories and then novels.

** He is writing a rather large scholarly piece on the works of Rimbaud, Verlaine, and Baudelaire, which I believe is actually published early on into the novel. This is a common trope for Nabokov, at least for his English language novels; almost every one of them features some sort of writer as the protagonist. As we approach the end of his career, the number of similarities between this writer/protagonist is notably increased. [[LampshadeHanging Nabokov notes this]], and frequently takes a poke at his protagonists for being shades of a more 'real' life.

** One of Nabokov's books actually begin with a scene the protagonist is watching out his window that he decides [[LampshadeHanging he wants to use to start his novel someday]].

* The narrator-protagonist of ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' is an academic author. H.G. Wells wrote a lot of non-fiction alongside his novels and short stories, though he is less-known for the former today.

* British author and cartoonist Ros Asquith has done this several times. Letty in the Literature/TeenageWorrier series (although her dream is to become a film director, she frequently mentions that she is a published author as well), Cordelia in the ''Girl Writer'' series and Flowkwee in ''Letters From an Alien Schoolboy'' are all examples.

* In ''Literature/{{Fame}}'', there's only a single character in the entire novel who doesn't see himself as a writer or character. The rest of the cast consists of three writers, a forum addict, a number of fictional characters, a world famous actor, a man who invents his own new life, and a woman who ends up as a fictional character against her will.

* Meg in ''This Tragic Universe'', by Scarlett Thomas, is a StarvingArtist paying the bills (just) with ghostwritten genre fiction while trying to write a "proper" novel which has gone through multiple rewrites over several years. (And yes, she's contemplating adultery).
* In many a ChivalricRomance, the narrator praises generosity to minstrels, and the porter -- who, being in charge of the door, could keep ministrels out -- is often the ButtMonkey of the tale.
* Creator/TomHolt has two in ''My Hero!''; the protagonist is a writer of HeroicFantasy adventure stories, and the second is a mysteriously-vanished western writer who has gotten TrappedInTVLand, and needs the help of the first to escape from the story.

* In ''Literature/TheMasterAndMargarita'', the Master is a writer of a particularly un-Soviet persuasion, just like the author himself. And many antagonists / victims of demonic pranks are politically motivated literary critics, the same sort of people who made Bulgakov's life miserable.
* In ''Literature/TheTrailOfCthulhu'', four of the six protagonists have professions relatives to writer. Shrewsbury, Clairborne Boyd, and Horvath Blayne are scientists focused on humanities (the former about occultism, the two latter about ethnology), Nayland Colum is a novelist. Indirectly, Andrew Phelan have been hired by Shrewsbury because he has some skills in a secretary job, among other things. The less relevant protagonist to this trope is Abel Keane, who is a theology student aiming to become a priest.

* Writer Stephen Gordon, the protagonist of ''Literature/TheWellOfLoneliness'', who doubles as an AuthorAvatar.

* Cody Lennox in "[[Literature/KaneSeries At First Just Ghostly]]" is an American writer visiting a London s-f/fantasy convention. He's burnt-out, drinks too much and cannot come to grips with the loss of his wife.

* TheProtagonist of Andrew Nicoll's novel ''The Love and Death of Caterina'' is one Luciano Hernando Valdez, a highly popular and respected writer from an unnamed Latin American country. The problem is that he is suffering from a writer's block and all he has from his new novel is "a thin yellow cat crossed the road". And then he meets Caterina, a young student who admires him and also writes.
* Creator/PhilipRoth wrote a series of novels about Nathan Zuckerman, who like Roth is a famous Jewish-American novelist, who was born in 1933, grew up in Newark and had his greatest success with a [[Literature/PortnoysComplaint controversial, sexually explicit book]].

* During his retirement from the FBI, David Rossi of ''Series/CriminalMinds'' supported himself as an author and lecturer. Although he is a nonfiction writer similar to the real life profiler John Douglas.

* The father on ''Series/EightSimpleRules'' was a sports columnist.

* Gabrielle from ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' may not have been a writer in the same way the others are, but as a bard and chronicler of Xena's adventures, it's probably as close as we get. There's even an episode about her writing a story about Xena. Virgil, Joxer's son, is a poet, much like his real life namesake.

* Mark from ''Theatre/{{Rent}}'' is a would be film maker who has written a few screenplays. (Which he burns.) His friend Roger spends the musical singing about how he wants to write a song.

* In ''Theatre/FlyByNightMusical'', Harold is a song-writer and a guitarist, Daphne is a singer/actress, and Joey Storms is a Broadway playwright.

** The game also has a more direct invocation of this trope by having a character that's game developer (who's in an insane asylum... with some pretty fun dialog). Interestingly, this happens very rarely in video games which seems to imply that video games seem to be one of the media that bucks the trend. Why this is is another question.
** The books Alan is famous for are noir-inspired crime thrillers that are basically ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'', Remedy's previous series. They even have the same voice-actor playing the character during voice-over "excerpts" of the books. A reader of Alan's says he's "a little heavy on the metaphors", which is the previous' games best known feature.
* Interestingly, ''VideoGame/{{Catherine}}'' is a video-game where the protagonist is a video-game designer.

* The protagonist of ''VideoGame/{{Scratches}}'', Michael Arthate, is rising horror writer; In ''Last Visit'' the protagonist is an unnamed reporter.

* Gets VERY meta in ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry''. [[spoiler: The games are, in fact, an IN STORY novel, written by...THE CULPRIT, who in one scene in the manga version, is shown becoming the Witch Beatrice, as she realizes she can move people around like pawns on a gameboard. Though, 3-6 are written by a different person...who is also one of the main characters.]]

* WesternAnimation/{{Doug}} is a writer and cartoonist, in fact many episodes open and close with him writing in his journal.

* ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'' creator Raphael Bob Waksberg noted this [[https://www.vulture.com/2018/09/raphael-bob-waksberg-bojack-horseman-apology-tours.html in an interview]], observing that the show spent a lot of time satirising the production and acting sides of Hollywood but not much of the writers, and that as a result it could come across a little self-congratulatory. Therefore in season five they introduced the character of Flip, the creator of a gritty prestige drama who is totally convinced of his own tortured genius despite most of his scripts [[StylisticSuck coming out nonsensical]]. In a more traditional version of this trope, Diane is a genuinely earnest and capable writer.

* Cody Lennox in "[[Literature/{{Kane}} At First Just Ghostly]]" is an American writer visiting a London s-f/fantasy convention. He's burnt-out, drinks too much and cannot come to grips with the loss of his wife.

* ''VideoGame/GabrielKnight'' writes supernatural mysteries which are "loosely based" on his own experiences.

** Hazel Stone of ''Literature/TheRollingStones'', who writes a pulpy sci-fi adventure TV series.

** Taken UpToEleven in ''Literature/AWidowForOneYear''. Ruth Cole, the protagonist, is a successful writer. Her father, who is a main character in both sections of the book, is a writer/illustrator of Not for Children children's books. Her long-lost mother writes detective fiction.

* Parodied and PlayedForDrama in ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode "Milagro," where Mulder's next-door neighbor is a writer who dials the trope of the self-indulgent, pretentious fantasist UpToEleven. But it turns sinister when he reveals [[StalkerWithACrush he's writing a book in which Scully is his love interest and he moved next door to Mulder in order to see more of her.]]

* In ''Theatre/FlyByNightMusical'', Harold is a song-writer and a guitarist, Daphne is an singer/actress, and Joey Storms is a Broadway playwright.

** "Literature/HellFire": The story is told from the [[PointOfView third-person limited/omniscient perspective]], but the focus for most of it is Alvin Horner, a reporter from the ''Continental Press''.

* ''Literature/TheLastDragonChronicles'': David's a geology student, but becomes a writer through Gadzooks' help. [[WordOfGod d'Lacey confesses]] that David is a kind of AuthorAvatar.

* In ''Theatre/FlyByNightMusical'', Harold is a song-writer and a guitarist, Daphne is an actress, and Joey Storms is a playwright.

** ''Literature/LucifersHammer'' (partly based on a scene from the first draft of ''Footfall'' that their editor demanded they expand into a novel in its own right) features writers and journalists among the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters living through the collapse of civilization after a major comet impact.

** ''[[VideoGame/FatalFrameMaidenOfBlackWater The fifth game]]'' has Ren Hojo, an anthor who heads into Mt. Hikami after coming across a photograph of a young girl he keeps seeing in his dreams.* The main character in ''Manor Memoirs'' is a writer having difficulties with her latest book.

* However, writers who don't write also don't get paid, which means this can become OneHourWorkWeek if the writer never actually gets around to doing any writing, or if they spend too much time doing something other than writing. In a one-off story, this can be {{handwave}}d on the basis that the character can always [[IShouldWriteABookAboutThis write a book about precisely the adventures he just experienced]].

* There's also a number of manga about making manga, or at least doujin: ''Manga/{{Genshiken}}'', ''Videogame/ComicParty'', ''Manga/DoujinWork'', ''Manga/{{Bakuman}}'', ''Manga/EvenAMonkeyCanDrawManga'', ''Manga/TheUnpopularMangakaAndTheHelpfulOnryoSan''...

* There's also a number of manga about making manga, or at least doujin: ''Manga/{{Genshiken}}'', ''Videogame/ComicParty'', ''Manga/DoujinWork'', ''Manga/{{Bakuman}}'', ''Manga/EvenAMonkeyCanDrawManga''...

* ''{{Manga/Nichijou}}''[==]'s {{tritagonist}} Mio is an aspiring mangaka who draws [[YaoiGenre yaoi]] doujin [[YaoiFangirl in her spare time]]. Fellow FourTemperamentEnsemble member Mai has also written at least one unpublished manga...though her style tends toward the same [[MundaneFantastic absurdist humor]] that runs the series.